Drums And Guns

Fans who found Low's The Great Destroyer a bit too upbeat for the normally somber trio will delight in their return to slower, melodic melancholia with Drums And Guns. "Pretty People" sets the tone with the lyrics, "All soldiers, they're all gonna die/ And all the little babies, they're all gonna die." Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker's dour harmonies swim slowly together, while the sleepy tempos are sure to please those with eyelids as heavy as hearse curtains. Funny that the word "Drums" is in the album title, since looped beats provide much of the rhythm here.